Management & Operations

NYCT taps new sr. VP, dept. of subways

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s (MTA) New York City Transit President Carmen Bianco announced the appointment of NYC Transit veteran Joseph Leader to the position of sr. VP, department of subways.

Leader, who has served as acting sr. VP since May, 2013, brings an enormous amount of experience, talent, and enthusiasm to a job that is one of the most demanding and challenging in the transportation industry.

He joined NYC Transit in 1986 as a management intern in the division of track, and since then, has accepted ever-increasing levels of responsibility, rising steadily through the managerial ranks to chief track officer and chief, track and infrastructure to VP/chief maintenance officer, maintenance of way. In that position, he was responsible for overseeing six areas vital to subway operations: track, infrastructure, elevator & escalator, electrical, engineering and electronics maintenance.

Leader’s 27-year tenure at NYC Transit also includes five years in the Office of System Safety as a superintendent, track safety and as director, investigations.

Some members said they want to shift the emphasis of the search to focus on a fresh batch of candidates whose skills are more suited to fixing problems that have come to light in the transit system in recent months.

C. Mikel Oglesby brings almost a quarter of a century of experience in the transit industry to his position, most recently operating Oglesby Consulting LLC, a firm he established to provide transportation expertise to the public and private sectors.